New gauge project

[RDKLXPRS]

Posted on another site but i might get a broader audience here.

Found these in the local junkyard and remembered someone on here had them in their car. The gauges are out of a v8 1984 Firebird. The speedometer is electric.
My question is what will i need to make them work? Thanks for your help.

 

[1evilregal]

those should look pretty cool in there!

I don't remember anyone putting thos in, but I know someone swapped in a gauge panel from an early 90's lesabre into their t-type... he had it here at the turbo nat's and really did a great job on it. be sure to make a thread on this one!

 

[bigtmoney]

You got a picture of the back of the gauges? What sort of connectors do they have?

 

[online170]

Not that it matters, but those are not 1984. They are 1986+ with the electronic dash.

The entire dash has 1 serial bus type port that plugs into the car. I think it would be a lot of work to try and make it work because you would have to replicate the entire VSS module on your own.

This picture shows 2 ports, but its a digital dash. The regular dashes have the larger one only, that you see towards the left.
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp33 ... 1288567717

 

[Poncho61]

I could be wrong and it wouldn't be the first or last time, but, I do know they make electronic speedometer signal units that attach to the cable driven output of the transmission. Most of these are aftermarket designed to work with the same brand of gauge you're installing and most, if not all, will say not for use with OEM speedos. You may have to hope the donor Firebird is still sitting there with the drivetrain so you can rob the sending unit from the transmission. Not sure if it will screw right onto your existing transmission tho. Also not sure of the wiring of the unit. If you come up with an oem sending unit from a Firebird, check the year your getting it from. I have a few different year Firebird service manuals that would have wiring diagrams in them and maybe they would show for the speedo too. If my old memory holds out till the end of day, I also have Pontiac part number books for F-Bodies from 82-93 and I could check to see if the sending unit part number changed from year to year.

 

[L92 OLDS]

They are 1986+ with the electronic dash.
I think it would be a lot of work to try and make it work because you would have to replicate the entire VSS module on your own.

If you are running a 200 4R, you should be able to use the VSS module from a later model Cadillac without a cable drive speedo. IIRC, GM standardized the PCM signal so it should be compatible with most GM speedos. I have not done this myself but have read about it in several forums.

 

[online170]

There are probably ways to do it. But not only is that gauge not part of the car, but its also now not part of the cluster.

What I am saying is, I don't know what circuit board type stuff happens from the gauge to the pin at the back of the cluster.

 

[RDKLXPRS]

Here are some more pictures for reference to help everyone out. Again any help is appreciated.

Tachometer- i am assuming the 3 contectors can just be connected to the existing ports for the tach.


Speedometer


Circuit board that attaches to the spedomter.


So to start a list of what i would need:
1. A way to mount the gauges. They are bigger than factory.
2. A way to get the electronic speed signal.

Here are the pics from the original post I found. Slightly different gauges.